England did not so much take revenge on Croatia as ignore them. That must have been more painful than being the victims of a terrible reckoning. A draw would have sufficed to ferry Fabio Capello's side to the 2010 World Cup, following Ukraine's goalless match in Belarus, but England were still to stage a demonstration of their growing prowess.

The World Cup itself is a very distant prize, but the little rewards are accumulating. Wayne Rooney, exhilarating in this game, has edged past the record England tally of eight goals in a qualifying campaign set by Tommy Taylor, who died in the Munich air crash before the 1958 World Cup was played. Rooney scored by adding England's fifth following a dreadful sliced kick by the otherwise impressive Croatia goalkeeper Vedran Runje 13 minutes from the end.

This was a Croatia side that has declined since denying England a berth at Euro 2008 and they were also lacking important contributors such as the injured Luka Modric. Even so, Capello's team preyed on the vulnerability as few of their predecessors could have done. The rapacious start gave the Italian particular pleasure.

England savoured their prowess. Capello had preferred Aaron Lennon to the more studied Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right because the opposition were in no shape to protect themselves. Lennon was barely conscious of resistance in the seventh minute as he tore across the area before being brought down by Josip Simunic.

The debate about diving had been given the night off, since the offence was indisputable. There was no ambiguity either about the penalty dispatched by Frank Lampard. Even then it was clear that England would enjoy themselves. The lead was doubled in the 18th minute.

Lennon, as if intent on showing that his final ball is better than his doubters claim, picked out Steven Gerrard, who scored by heading back across the goalkeeper. It was no fault of the Tottenham Hotspur winger that a disheartened Croatia did not set Lennon a proper test.

Few others were taxed in Capello's side. The score would have mounted faster still had it not been for Runje. Despite being unsighted he was, for instance, able to get to a Lampard 25-yarder and denied the Chelsea midfielder on another occasion. The goalkeeper also blocked a Rooney effort that followed a pass from Lennon.

Misses, all the same, are far more controversial when Emile Heskey is involved since the debate about his meagre record pursues him through every international. He plied his detractors with new evidence. Lampard twice set him up shortly before the interval and on each case the Aston Villa attacker was thwarted by Runje. On the second occasion his cumbersomeness after taking a bad touch meant that he hurt the goalkeeper in a collision.

By and large, the match was more engrossing than might have been expected. There was, after all, no cause for pulses to race when England still had a further two matches in which to qualify regardless of the result here. This instead developed into a show of intimidating efficiency. The target, in other words, is to achieve the kind of remorseless reliability for which Germany sides have so often been famed.

That achievement is some way off. You could find fault with any area of the England team. It is far from sure who the goalkeeper ought to be. The back four ships too many goals. As a midfield partnership, Lampard and Gareth Barry have the air of strangers who happen to have stepped into a lift together. Then there are those who are finding it ever more insufferable that Heskey should be the striker, no matter how many goals are scored by others in his vicinity.

These, however, are topics to be resolved in the run-up to the World Cup. The team have done everything required of them so far. England have not been behind in any of their eight qualifiers to date. Of course, it was all but inevitable that Capello would surpass Steve McClaren, a predecessor whose side finished behind Russia as well as Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

The Italian would be the first to agree that there are still unmistakable defects. Bilic's side should have been awarded a penalty after 55 minutes, but the referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco was indifferent to Glen Johnson's barge from behind as Eduardo da Silva attempted to get his head to a cross from Mario Mandzukic.

Johnson showed the stronger aspect of his game by going clear of Danijel Pranjic in the 59th minute to place the cross from which Lampard nodded in his second goal. After picking out Rooney and then leaping to the cross that was returned to him, Gerrard headed a second goal of his own seven minutes later.

Croatia did break through in the 71st minute. Eduardo's header was saved by Robert Green but spilled loose allowing him to score, even though the substitute Mladen Petric had been offside. England would not have cared. The competition within the squad has been fiercer than the challenge posed by these qualifiers.